Here's What's What
by Mehriah
Summary: RVB I'm just minding my own business, leading a regular, stressful teenage life... when suddenly the characters from Red vs Blue are suddenly teleported to Earth, much to all of our confusion. Can I help them stay out of trouble and find their way back?
1. Introduction

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own any of the Red vs Blue characters. They all belong to RoosterTeeth. **

**Also, if you don't like stories where fictional characters come to the real world, than don't read.**

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I stared at the armor clad man. He stared back. Or, at least, I think he did. I couldn't exactly tell, with that golden, gleaming visor covering his face. He shifted his weight, and the sun caught the plating of his helmet just right, casting a bright light directly at my face. I squinted as tears sprang to my eyes, and quickly held up a hand to shield myself from the glare. I had to block out about half of his face to completely eradicate the gleam from my eyes, but it would do. There wasn't much for me to see anyway, because I knew these outfits. I knew what they looked like. I'd seen them before. Leaning to my right, I peered around the soldier, blinking as eight other identical face plates turned to follow my movements. My eyes shifted from one to another, inspecting the armor that went with each visor as well. Yep. They were all here. I sighed, bringing a hand up to my cheek in exasperation. My eyebrows were in danger of disappearing behind my short, boy-cut hair, as they rose higher up my brow.

"Umm…" I mumbled, for the umpteenth time, at a loss for what to do.

"Well?" The cobalt clad man in front of me asked. I looked back up at his face, wondering briefly what he looked like under his uniform, before returning to the matter at hand.

"I really don't know what to do," was the only reply I could muster, knowing it was very unhelpful, and feeling stupid for it. What was I supposed to do? What _could_ I do? I shuffled the pack of coke I'd been holding to the opposite hand, becoming quite uncomfortable with the whole situation.

The two teams had arrived suddenly, surprising me when I walked out of the local Kroger to find them all standing near my car. Unfortunately for me – or maybe fortunately, I couldn't tell yet – I was the first person to notice, or at least approach them, though, in hindsight, I wished I had stayed at a distance until my car was safely out of their eyesight, and I could sneak to it and drive away. But now I was stuck talking to this man in the cobalt armor, who claimed he was Church. The Church. Church from the popular web series Red vs. Blue. Of course I didn't believe him, but I couldn't help but wonder what he was doing here, along with all the other characters I knew so well, being a big fan of the series myself. As Church questioned me, though, I started to think that besides the whole impossibility of them being real, they might be able to actually be who they said they were. They had no idea where they were, or what time period it was, or any of that. The only information they had been positive of, was that the last thing they'd done was go through a teleporter. We'd discussed why they might be here, Grif once suggesting that they'd obviously been sent back in time, or to a parallel universe. Everyone else dismissed that idea, though I figured it was more probable than any of the others anyone else had come up with so far. And now I was stuck, standing in the hot August sun with a 12-pack of coke in my hands, trying to help nine supposedly fictional characters decide what they should do about their dilemma.

"Um… well… do you see anything around here that might teleport you back to where you came from?"

All nine of the Spartans looked around, and so did I, though we'd already done so more than once already, with no luck. Tucker was obviously thinking this, because he piped up with, "Of course there isn't. If we're back on Earth, in the year 2008, like you say we are, then there isn't going to be a fucking teleporter anywhere."

"Shut up, Tucker." Church retorted.

"The blue is right," Sarge spoke up in his heavy drawl. "There must be some teleportation mechanism here somewhere, if we got here by one."

Grif took up Tucker's side. "Well, maybe our teleporter got screwed up, and sent us here by accident. If that's what happened, there wouldn't be one here."

"Of course it got screwed up, dirtbag, or we wouldn't be here," Sarge joined in once more.

"Maybe we have been sent on vacation. Or to save the planet, like in movies," Caboose added, excited to contribute to the conversation.

"Shut up, Caboose," Church growled, without even looking back.

Throughout the whole exchange, I just stared in wonder. These were either people dressed as these characters and they were doing an excellent job with impersonation, I was going mad, or it really was them. I ruled out the last one, and hoped it wasn't the second. The first was a little creepy, but how would I know?

"Um, guys?" came my mumble after a couple minutes, trying to break through their arguing.

"What?" some asked at once, the rest remained silent, but they all turned and looked at me. Never one for the center of attention, especially with strangers (and potentially famous ones at that), a blush crept into my ears and started to spread through my face. I hoped none of them noticed.

By now, I had seen a few people glancing our way. One kid, looking to be in his early teens, started to make his way over at one point, but seemed to think better of it, and turned around. Others just stood and stared, before finally walking away, wide-eyed or shaking their head, dumbfounded. Nonetheless, I didn't want to attract any more attention, and this rainbow of suits that the characters were wearing was definitely an eye-catcher. "Do… do you guys have anything to wear besides that armor. It's kind of attracting a lot of attention." Before any of them could add anything about that being a good thing, I added, "And you probably don't want that. If people see you in those, they'll think you guys are crazy or threatening or something, and make a huge deal of it."

"You didn't make a big deal of it," Simmons pointed out.

"Well, no… I don't like to make big deals about much of anything so… I'd rather keep this kind of on the down-low, you know?"

"Sure…" Grif said, and I could tell he still didn't really understand why anyone would make a big deal of it anyway. I didn't even think I could really explain to them why we didn't walk around covered in armor like they did. I just hoped the others would at least go along with it, and he would follow.

"So, do you guys - "

"And girls," Tex corrected me.

" – and girls… have anything else to wear, or, like, something under your armor that will do?"

"Well, yeah, of course we have stuff on under our armor." Church said.

Sarge added, "We wouldn't go around naked under these. That would chafe something awful. Except maybe Grif and Donut, they might do it, since Grif is stupid like that and Donut is well… Donut."

"I don't -" Grif started to retort.

"Believe me, it does chafe," Donut agreed, interrupting Grif.

Caboose seemed to ponder the exchange for a minute then said, "I do not think so."

We all looked at Caboose, another shade of red starting to creep over my face with just the mention. Caboose had always been my favorite character, and now here he was, perhaps implying that he was naked under his armor. I shifted my eyes away, feeling weird despite the fact he was still fully clothed.

"Caboose, you do have something on under those, right?" Church asked condescendingly.

Caboose leaned in close to Church and said in a whisper, still loud enough for all of us to hear, "Yes. I am wearing my underwear."

"Oh, thank God," I heard Grif say in the back.

I suppressed a giggle by biting my lower lip, as Church turned back to me. "Is that good enough?"

"Well, I suppose so. I mean, not for public obviously, but till we get to my house, it'll be fine."

"Your house?"

"Well, yeah, I figured I could take you guys to my house, and we could figure out from there what to do, instead of standing here… in the Kroger parking lot." I didn't know what I'd accomplish by getting them out of public, but I felt I needed to. The idea of them being just people in costume kept getting farther and farther away from the front of my mind; I was enjoying playing along with this, and felt that they were almost my responsibility now, as if I was the reason they'd come here. "If that's ok with y'all, of course."

Church turned around, looking at the group for suggestions.

"Well, I say let's go! I mean, what other choice do we have?" Sister asked, looking around at all the others.

"Not one that I can think of," Tex answered.

Donut joined in. "Well, we could stay here and look for the teleporter some more."

"That fucking thing isn't here, I tell you!" Tucker yelled angrily at the pink Spartan.

"How will we get home then?"

"How the fuck do I know, Red?"

"Donut, Blue, stop your bickering. This is no time for that love-talk. You can do that later." Sarge interrupted.

Disgusted, Tucker started to retort, but was quickly cut off by Church. "Enough! Let's just go to this kid's house. We'll discuss all this there. Everybody, got it?"

The others stood around, some, like Sarge, agreed right away, the others waited a minute, but after some forcing from Church and Sarge, soon agreed also. Caboose, instead of agreeing, whined, "I am hot. It is making me all sweaty."

"Yeah, me too. Ugh," Donut agreed, lifting his arms as if to air himself out, though I didn't think it'd work well with that armor on.

"Well, how are we getting to your house then?" Church ignored them, turning to me.

I hadn't thought about it until now, but now that I did, I was unsure. I turned to look at my small white Honda Accord, and each of the others turned to look too. Following my gaze, they spotted the white car.

"That won't work."

"You're right, Simmons. Grif, you'll have to ride on top of the car. Avoid falling off if you can. If you do fall off, don't try to follow us."

"I'm not riding on top of that!"

Shaking my head, I stopped them from continuing, "No, no one is going to ride on top. You can't really anyway, it's illegal. I'll just have to make several trips back here to get you guys."

"First!" called Tucker.

"Damn it, Tucker. Second!" Church immediately spouted. Caboose ended up with third, and Grif would have gotten fourth, if Sarge hadn't pulled rank on him, making him give up his spot.

"Alright. I, uh… I guess you will have to take off your armor to fit in the car. Three of you won't fit in the back, otherwise," I suggested, not knowing what to do with the armor. The four getting first ride agreed, and started to take off their outfits. The other that would have to wait, becoming hot in the Georgia heat, decided to take theirs off too.

Ever since I'd met them minutes ago, even though I doubted – and still sort of did – that they were the actual characters, I'd wanted to see what these people looked like under their armor. Finally I was getting to see if they'd look like what I thought they would, and I couldn't help but stare at each of them. I knew now I'd never know for certain if they were people just in costume, but I didn't care anymore. Church had his helmet off first, and I stared at his jet black, short cut hair. A ragged goatee had formed, and the rest of his face looked like it could use a shave too. Suddenly realizing I'd get to see what Caboose really looked like, I snapped my head over to him. He was having trouble with all the snaps it took to get off the helmet but as I watched, he struggled through, and finally pulled it off. My mouth fell open, and I felt my heart skip a beat. He was obviously not the brightest, this I knew, but he was cuter than I expected. His short blond hair was all in disarray after being in the helmet, and also pretty soaked with sweat, but I didn't mind. The young man was tanner than Church, though not as tan as I found Tucker to be, and he had brilliant dark blue eyes. He smiled a big, toothy grin as he caught me looking, and I glanced away, suddenly very self-conscious, and now definitely blushing. Tucker had very dark skin, and a light chocolate brown color of hair. His eyes were very dark too, and I guessed him to be perhaps of mixed racial background. Sarge looked like the standard old battle type, with the grey buzz cut hair, and a worn complexion. The rest all varied in their looks, the only one that surprised me was Donut, who didn't look quite as feminine as I'd imagined. His hair was a light blonde, and it would have been styled if it hadn't been messed up by the helmet. Yet, you could still tell he was a bit more effeminate then the others men. He even looked a tad more girly than Tex, who looked very tomboyish with her red hair cut in a short bob cut, with no make-up on and a very tough, battle-worn face.

Once the first four had their armor fully off (in which case I had to turn away quickly when my eyes caught sight of Caboose just standing there in a pair of blue boxers and a plain white t-shirt), I opened the trunk, not knowing what else to do with all the armor. After shoving four of the outfits in, there was no room left for the helmets, with the armor itself barely fitting. I struggled a few minutes to close the trunk, but once it was obvious I couldn't get it, Church came over and slammed it down. I wondered how good that would be for my car, but I figured it'd have to do.

"Well, alright," I said, looking at all the soldiers, now only in their clothes, which mainly consisted of some sort of form-fitting under armor outfit, or just underwear, in Caboose's case. "I guess the rest of you can go sit on one of the benches over there or something till I come back for y'all. Just… don't wander off, or do anything stupid. If you don't know what something is, or don't understand something, just leave it alone. I don't want any trouble."

"She sounds like Church when he tells me not to do something stupid," I heard Caboose lean over to Sarge and whisper.

"Alright, but how long is it going to take you to get back? It's getting really hot out here, and I'm tired of standing around," Grif complained, running a hand over his sweaty face.

"I'll… be back as soon as I can," was all I could think to say, as I opened my door. Pushing the driver's seat forward, I wished that my car wasn't only two-doors. It would have been easier to get the soldiers in, seeing as most were pretty tall, or muscular, and seemed to have a difficult time crawling into my backseat. Sarge insisted on sitting in front, making Tucker, Church, and Caboose, sit in back.

As Sarge and I went to get in the car Sarge looked back and said, "Simmons, take care of Donut. If Grif gets hurt don't help him. Unless you're helping him die. Then by all means, give it your best."

"Yes, sir," Simmons commended with a salute, and with that Sarge sat down in the passenger seat, and closed the door.

I stood there for a second, not knowing if I should say anything else, before giving the rest just standing there a slight wave, and pulling my door shut behind me. As I started the car and buckled myself in, I watched as the five Spartans still here started to walk back to the grocery store. Once they were out of my way, I put the car in reverse, and started to back out.

"You're sure you're old enough to drive this thing?" Sarge asked.

"Yeah, you do seem sort of young," Church threw in.

Putting the car in drive, I glanced over at Sarge. "Well, yeah. I have my driver's license if you want to see it." I pointed towards my red wallet with the Switzerland cross on it that was sitting on the console, and continued driving.

Before Sarge could have a chance to pick up the wallet, Tucker, who was sitting in the middle seat in the back, snatched it up, saying, "Let me see that." He opened it up, revealing my plethora of one dollar bills that I always seemed to have on me, some gift cards, one debit card, a few gas cards, and my license.

Suddenly remembering who I was dealing with, I glanced up at my rearview mirror, to catch Tucker counting the money stashed in one of the pockets. "Don't you dare take my money." I heard Tucker mumble something about how I couldn't do anything to him, but he did put the money back. Why he decided to have some morale for once, I didn't know, but I was glad.

"Good color choice with the wallet by the way. It's very attractive," Sarge complemented, and I chuckled slightly, wondering if their battle of red vs. blue would ever stop.

"Oh, so your name's Mariah Ashley Yori, eh?" Church asked from behind me. I knew they'd found my license, and that's when I forgot that I'd never even introduced myself. It made me feel better that they hadn't either, but I still felt rude, because I knew them already, even if they didn't know me. "We'll just call you Yori. We stick with last names. It's a lot less formal, so you don't have to feel like you're actually friends with anyone. You can just pretend you are acquaintances, or coworkers or something."

"Fine with me," I shrugged.

"I think the name Mariah is very nice," Caboose said.

I smiled. "Thanks."

The car fell into silence after that, and I was surprised. I didn't think of them as being exactly the quiet types, but there was probably a lot for them to think over, so it was understandable. Except for Caboose. I didn't know if he was thinking at all. Whether he was thinking or not, he did notice the cows, that we passed, promptly turning and shouting, "Cows!" in Tucker's ear.

"Yeah, Caboose, cows. That's great."

"Man, it's been a while since I've seen a cow," Church muttered, leaning around Tucker, as all the Spartans seemed to admire the ruminating animals.

"Well, we have plenty of those around here, so, you'll be seeing more of them." The Spartans went back to their sight-seeing, heads turning as something caught their eye that they hadn't seen in a long time. Pondering, I asked, "How long has it been since y'all have been on Earth anyway?"

"Oh, about 30 minutes," Caboose answered.

Church sighed, "No, Caboose. Not how long we've been here. How long it's been since we last saw Earth… before right now… or 30 minutes ago."

"Too damn long, that's for sure," Tucker grumbled.

The car ride didn't seem to take too long, and as I pulled up to my driveway, I started to slow down. "Um…" I mumbled. How would my mom take to me bringing four strange men into the house, only to go pick up three more and two women? Probably not well. I didn't know how I'd explain it either. I stopped at the driveway next to ours, looking down it. If you weren't looking for the driveway, you could probably miss it, that's how overgrown the trees and bushes surrounding it were. The house itself looked like it had been abandoned for years, which it practically had. Vines crawled up the sides of the small red shack, clinging to the wood and shingles. It wasn't very nice, but I figured if these soldiers could live in cement bases for months, they'd be fine in this run-down house, at least until I worked stuff out with my mom. I pulled my car slightly down the dirt and gravel driveway, parked it, and turned it off. Getting out, I told them they could go ahead and get out too, if they wanted, but to stay near the car. I listened as their boots crunched on dry leaves while I hopped over the wooden boards dividing this driveway and ours. I trotted over around the front of the house, to peer down the slope of the driveway to where my mom and stepdad parked their cars. Good. David's truck was gone, and hopefully, that meant mom was with him. To make sure, I went and peered in the front door, before unlocking it with my key and sticking my head in. I listened for a minute, before calling out, asking if anyone was home. When I got no answer, I sighed, feeling better, though I knew I'd still have to tell my mom sometime. For now, though, I was safe. I headed back over to the car, where the guys were milling around.

"- looks like crap."

"It's better than what we've been living in, Tucker."

"I don't know about that."

"Well, you could just go sleep out there in the woods if you want," I offered, waving towards the trees separating the run down little house and the neighbor's house as I walked up behind the Spartans. Stuffing my thumbs in the pockets of my cargo shorts I smiled wryly, wondering if Tucker would be up to the offer.

Church seemed to enjoy the suggestion too, and looked over at Tucker, a mocking grin spread over his lips.

"Well, I think you all can sleep out there." Sarge suddenly voiced, from where he stood a few yards away, inspecting the building. "It's not much, but it's red, so obviously it's a red base. And that means no blues. Y'all stay out, you hear."

Caboose took a quick step away from the house, as if he'd be shot down right there for being a blue. "He is right!"

"What!? No! He isn't right. I'm not sleeping outside when there is a house to sleep in. I don't care what color it is. Just get over that. Red and blue doesn't really matter here!" Church exclaimed. I almost threw in an "amen," but decided against it.

Tucker seemed to have suddenly changed his mind about the little house, because he threw in his own opinion. "Yeah, Church is right! We're sleeping in there. We'll fight you for it!" I almost asked him what happened to the "it looks like crap" but I knew it wouldn't make any difference.

"Yes, they will fight you for it!" Caboose shouted, and ran back over to stand behind me.

"And we have you outnumbered, Sarge," said Church.

Sarge halted his advancement, looking around him quickly. "Oh, fish chips he's right! You dirty blues, tricking me into being the first red to come here with y'all, alone, so you could kill me and take my house!"

"Um… but you didn't know about the house before," I added in.

"I might not have, but they did. They knew, and they knew it'd be mine, so they concocted this sinister – yet admittedly brilliant – plan."

I laughed, shaking my head. "You guys just calm down. We'll figure out sleeping arrangements once I have everyone back here. Now, no one kill or even so much as scratch anyone while I'm gone. You got that?"

Sarge looked shocked. "You can't leave me here with these blues. They're too crafty for me to take on alone. I'm not going to stay here with them."

"We don't want him here with us anyway," Tucker said, leaning against a tree.

From his position now beside me, Caboose drew himself up, almost puffing out his chest, as if trying to act intimidating. "Yes, we don't want us with him here anyway."

Church was about to say something, I could tell, but I cut him off. We'd wasted too much time, and I needed to get everyone back before my mom and stepdad got home. "Look, I don't have time for this. Church, Tucker, Caboose, don't do anything to Sarge. Sarge, don't do anything to them. You can go in the house if you want, but don't go in mine." I said this, pointing over to my family's yellow and green house. "Down there," I redirected my finger so it was pointing through the trees, away from the road, "is the lake. You can go down there, and go swimming or whatever, just don't go near my house. Got it?"

"Yeah, don't go near your house, got it," church sighed.

"Whatever, "Tucker mumbled, turning to stare at the run down little house they'd been fighting over.

"Yes, I've got it. Wait, what do I have?" Caboose asked, confused.

"Just stay with Church and Tucker," I laughed, looking up at him but immediately remembering his lack of clothes besides his underwear. My face burning again, I shifted my attention back to Sarge. "You understand?"

Looking shocked again, Sarge mumbled, "I can't believe you'd do this to me. You seemed like such a nice young fella'." He continued rambling as he watched the blues walk over to inspect the house, but I didn't stay to listen. I yelled an ignored "be good!" and started back to Kroger.

I was halfway back to Kroger when I realized what I'd forgotten to tell the guys. I had a dog. A small rat terrier to be exact, but I don't think the type of dog made any difference. The problem was that I didn't know if the guys had seen a dog in a long time, or even worse, ever. Scout, though not very large at all, especially compared to these Spartans, would definitely come off as something threatening or at least stand-offish, and I was worried about their reaction. Scout would start barking as soon as he realized they were there, and then…. I didn't know what they'd do. I hoped and prayed throughout the whole car ride that they would leave him alone, and vice versa. At one point, in desperation, I even thought about calling up church, but then I realized he didn't have a cell phone. None of them did, as far as I knew. I decided there in my car that after finding them all clothes, my next order of business would be to figure out a way to stay in touch with them. Seeing as they have no clue what's what on this planet I knew that communication would be key.

By the time I pulled back into the familiar setting of the Kroger parking lot I was frantic with worry about Scout. I quickly spotted the others, thankfully sitting and standing around a bench like I'd asked. I navigated my car in their direction, and pulled it up next to the curb in front them. Not even bothering to turn the car off, I sprang out of it, rushing around to where the others, having recognized me after a second, were getting up.

"Come on, come on," I called to them. "I need to be quick. Donut, you already have all your armor off, so you can come. I'll take two others."

"Why only three? Don't you have enough room in that car for four people?" Grif asked as he pulled the metal off from around his waist, revealing a flash of black under armor. I wondered why the others – except Donut – had taken off only half of their armor earlier. I shrugged, guessing they would have felt uncomfortable without something thicker than the spandex covering their lower halves. That made sense. Donut obviously felt fine with just the thin material, and probably would have still been fine even if this was one of those days where he walked around naked. I didn't want to think about that.

Stuffing Donut's armor in my trunk I answered back over my shoulder. "Because, I don't want to have to leave one of you here by yourself." I checked my watch. 4:45. I had about 45 minutes until mom got home from working out. I tried to relax myself momentarily, but then remembered Scout and became tense again. I looked at the five soldiers standing there, Simmons being the only one not done undressing. He stood uncomfortably, his armor half off. That's when I noticed the pieces of wiring and metal sticking out from his under armor. Small wires ran up the back of his neck, making his skin pucker where it entered it. A metal plate covered the lower half of his jaw, and other robot pieces shone awkwardly in random places along his body. I couldn't help my eyes widening again. There was no way that this was an imposter. These guys had to be real. I'd never seen a cyborg before, because they didn't exist. But here Simmons was, with all his parts and pieces, some human, others obviously not. Though not much was showing, it was enough to tell that what I saw was real. I smiled. These guys had to be who they said they were. That's the only explanation for a cyborg. I smiled up at Simmons, meeting his confused and slightly embarrassed green eyes. He tried to smile back, managing sort of a half of one, and that made me smile wider. They couldn't be people just acting. Excited that I was most likely actually meeting the real Spartans from Red vs. Blue I turned back to the others, my confidence renewed. "Hey, do you think you guys could fit 4 in the back. Maybe put the smallest of y'all back there? That way I don't have to come back."

Grif looked kind of confused and was staring at me, and I suddenly wondered if my staring at Simmons had been long and really noticeable. Thankfully Sister piped up, and drew my attention away from the Orange Spartan so that I wouldn't have time to become embarrassed.

"Yeah, I think we could. Me, Tex, and Donut can fit back there, definitely…. I don't know about my brother or Simmons."

Donut agreed as well as Tex, though she agreed much more reluctantly, and we turned to size up Grif and Simmons. Simmons was taller than Grif, yet he was lankier, with a thinner build. Grif was admittedly chubby. I wasn't the only one to notice this.

Donut laughed. "Um, I think I'd rather have Simmons back there. Grif, you might not fit so well."

Grif straightened up, unwittingly making his stomach stick out a little more. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're fat," Tex stated. I laughed, but then I remembered Scout again. The smile evaporated off my face, and I herded them to the car after stuffing their armor in the trunk. It was difficult for the two reds and the two girls to fit in the back, but, after a shove from Grif, they were packed in, and Grif nonchalantly climbed into the front seat.

I buckled myself in, trying to get the others to, but to no avail, and started to pull out of the parking lot.

"So, you guys, do you have dogs where you came from?"

By the time I had zoomed back into my driveway and parked the car, the four Spartans I'd dropped off earlier were nowhere in sight. I sighed, running a hand through my hair. Mom and David still weren't home, thank goodness, but I still had to get all of them settled – pretty much hidden – and give them a rundown of where they were.

As I had stood, head confusedly turning from side to side, trying to find Church, Tucker, Caboose, and Sarge the other soldiers had managed to pile out of my small car. Watching as Grif walked off, leaving his door open, I grumbled to myself and went and closed it. I had no idea what I'd gotten myself into, but it was already proving to be a pain.

"Um, are you going to tell us where we are?" came Grif's voice suddenly from behind me.

I turned around to look up into his hazel eyes. I think my look might have come off as sort of a glare, and I felt bad for it later, but I was suddenly feeling stressed with the whole situation. Grif raised an eyebrow at me. I could feel everyone else watching, either waiting for the same answer, or to see if I'd punch Grif's face in. All I said was, "This is my house." With that I turned on my heel, jumped over the barrier separating our driveway with the abandoned house's gravel drive, and quickly strode over to the old red house. I'd never really been over to the house before, but everything looked untouched. They weren't up here. I sighed louder this time, now running both hands through my hair.

A crunching of leaves told me that someone was walking up from behind me, but I didn't pay the noise any mind. I was trying to decide where to check first, and if I should leave the Spartans I was with here, or take them with me.

"Mariah, you look stressed. Perhaps we should do some yoga to unwind."

A bitter laugh escaped my lips and I turned to look at Donut. "No, no, I'm good. Really-"

Sister cut me off though as she trotted over to us. "Oh, yeah! I could go for some yoga! I mean, I've never done it before, but it always looked fun." She started doing some moves that seemed more like a bad cheerleading routine to me, lifting one leg up, then another, with a lot of jumping around. I couldn't help but smile at the antics, and when, suddenly, a shrill bark pierced the air, my smile widened from ear to ear.

Looking around frantically, I cried, "Scout!" and laughed excitedly when my small terrier came zooming around the house, still barking like mad. He ran up to me, only long enough for me to pat his back once, before he was zooming around, sniffing each of the others in turn. Donut let out a squeal almost as loud as Scout's, scaring me for a moment until I realized he was just excited about seeing the dog as I was. I laughed, and having calmed down some, was able to think a bit more clearly.

"Hey, Simmons, come with me!" I called over my shoulder to the young man dressed in the maroon and black under armor. I was already walking away, but it only took him a few long strides to catch up with me.

"Where are we going?"

"You're going to help me find Caboose, Tucker, Church, and Sarge. I'm not sure where they went off to, though I told them to stay here."

"Oh, alright."

We had already reached the bottom of my driveway when I remembered that I'd left all the others standing back up in the front of the house with no instructions. As I had just started cussing silently to myself, Donut came bouncing down the driveway, Scout at his heels.

"I want to come!"

I nodded to him, and yelled to the others that they could either come along, or stay right where they were. Everyone decided to follow; more out of boredom and curiosity about the surroundings than anything, except for Grif, but when he realized he would be left by himself, the chubby soldier came ambling down the driveway, trailing the rest of us. Now that I had the whole group following me I slowed my pace down to a power walk, though the only one who didn't keep up with me easily was Grif. As we walked I kept looking about, searching for any signs of the four men that I'd left earlier. The others didn't talk too much, and I guessed they were all a bit confused at the moment. I led them down the wood path that went to the lake, walking its distance in record time. When I had almost reached the stairs leading down from the raised wood path to the sand of the lake shore, I could hear voices, and quickly afterwards spotted the people talking. That's when my pace slowed, having successfully found the men.

They seemed to be enjoying themselves at the lake, taking a while to notice our approach. Sarge was standing gruffly in our motorboat, admiring it in the way that all men admire something they have no clue about – looking it over and giving it small approving nods every now and then, sometimes lightly touching something that looked new or interesting. Church was sitting on the walkway of the dock, watching as Tucker and Caboose splashed around in the water, Tucker trying to rinse the grime off of himself, while Caboose tried to initiate a splashing game. I could have almost sworn that a small smile flickered across Church's face as he watched them, but his character wasn't known for friendliness or compassion, so I tossed the thought aside. He was first to notice us, and alerted the other three to our presence by calling a greeting to us as we walked across the shore to the dock.

Donut, of course, was first to greet the others, instantly running into the water and joining Caboose in his game. The feminine boy's arrival drove Tucker out of the water, and he walked out of the shallows, crossing his arms across his chest as he walked up to us. He was no longer wearing his under armor (I could see it lying on the dock), but instead wore only the boxers and the undershirt that had been his bottom-most layer.

"It's about time y'all got here. Took you long enough," he drawled out, and I could tell he was shivering. He stopped to flirt with Tex, and I continued to the dock. Everyone else dispersed as well, Tex walking up the shore a little way with Tucker at her heels, Simmons walking to the dock with me, and Grif, just now reaching the shore, made it to the dock after a minute, dropping into a chair next to the one Simmons had sat down in.

For a few minutes I watched Caboose and Donut from the spot I had chosen next to Church on the walkway, and then I turned to him, glad that he'd only unzipped the top half of his under armor. "What do you guys need first? I know you need some clothes… how long's it been since you've eaten?"

At this Church let out a short, mocking laugh. "It depends on what your idea of a meal is. I probably haven't actual food in… oh, maybe two years or so."

"What? Why?" I wrinkled my eyebrows, looking back out to the water but awaiting Church's answer still.

"Eh. We ran out of real food at base after about a year there. And since they wouldn't send us more, we just had to deal with what we could get."

I nodded my head in surprise. Food and clothes were definitely top priority then.

But first I had to explain all this to mom.

I sighed for what seemed like the millionth time that afternoon, and my chin sank down to rest in my hands as I searched for a good reason to tell mom as to why I'd brought all these people home.


	2. Complicated

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own any of the Red vs Blue characters. They all belong to RoosterTeeth. **

**Also, if you don't like stories where fictional characters come to the real world, than don't read.**

**Alright, guys, I'm so sorry that this took SO long. I was in my senior year of high school, and if you haven't been through that yet then I'll just tell you it can get terribly hectic. But, finally, here's the second chapter. It's a pretty boring one, but it was necessary. Hopefully, I can get the next chapter up sooner, now that I'm done with school for the summer, and maybe the next chapter won't be as boring. Thanks you guys for the great reviews on the last chapter, and if you enjoy the story still you should probably thank RvB Freelancer Tex. She kept in touch of me, and if it weren't for her I probably wouldn't have finished this up, cause I do have a bad habit of not finishing stories. And if there's any inconsistencies throughout this thing, I'm sorry about that too.  
**

* * *

This was going to suck. I absent-mindedly kicked a rock out of the path in front of me as I walked back up from the lake. After sitting around with the Spartans for a while I had decided to come back up to the house to get ready for my mom's return. None of the guys or girls at the lake had been any help in coming up with an explanation for their presence. Actually, they had all just kept telling me that I should stop worrying about it and that it wasn't a big deal. I had tried telling them that nine adults suddenly showing up at your house wasn't a normal occurrence here, but they had still just blown it off. They said to me, "Just tell her the truth; that supposedly always works." And this coming from some of the least unethical people I've ever met.

My light Puma shoes fell heavily on the back steps, making louder than normal clunks as I climbed the stairs and walked up to the glass door on the back porch. It wouldn't budge. I tugged once more, even though I knew it was locked. All these happenings had made me mentally tired, and I really didn't feel like walking back down the steps, around to the side door, climbing those steps, and unlocking the side door, but I suppose I had to. Dismally, I made my way to the side door, letting myself in and flopping down on the couch. I turned to look out the back door, but the trees growing in the back yard blocked out most of my view of the lake. I had told the soldiers to stay in our cove, and I hoped they'd listen.

Pushing myself up, I figured I'd do a chore or two while I waited for mom's return, so that maybe I could get her on her good side before bringing up the Spartans. I headed to the kitchen, and opened one of the cabinet doors, grabbing a bottle of Windex. I stared blankly at the blue liquid for a second, then ripped a few paper towels off the roll and went to clean the back door.

Normally cleaning one side of the glass door doesn't take long, but I made sure to do a good job today, taking my time to get every spot. It was frustrating, but finally I had one side smudge free, and started on the outside of the door. Shouts and a laugh could be heard coming from the lake every now and then, and I was relieved to hear that they had stayed down there. It was most likely Caboose and Donut making all the noise, I knew; they were probably still playing their splashing game. I smiled slightly as I imagined the young men, practically still boys, having fun. It would have been nice to join them, but I wouldn't have been able to enjoy the game at the moment.

I ran my now soaked paper towel over the glass door one last time and stood back to inspect my work. The door looked better than it had in a while, clean enough to be in those commercials where a bird mistakes the glass for not being there. I smiled, pleased with my work, just as a loud humming noise filled my ears.

Mom was home.

I sighed, trying to calm myself down, and thinking of any last excuses that I could give her. As before, there were none that I could think off. Grumbling to myself I slid the glass door back with a _whoosh_ and walked back into the kitchen. I heard the side door opening as I bent over to put the Windex back in the cabinet.

"Oh, were you actually doing some chores?" came my stepdad's heavy, southern voice. He chuckled at me, not really expecting a response, and walked on into his and my mom's room to put up his stuff. I mumbled a "yeah" and stood up.

"What made you decide to do chores?" my mom asked, walking through the door only a moment after David. She closed it behind her and started to set all of her school stuff down.

I shrugged my shoulders, looking away from my mom. I needed to tell her, I knew that, but I didn't want to bring it up in front of David. Only a minute later, David walked out back, as he did almost every day, going to practice his archery. I cringed, suddenly realizing he would hear the Spartans down at the lake, and might go check it out. Even if he didn't go down there to see what all the noise was about, he did feed the fish every day, another detail I had overlooked… so there was a huge chance he'd walk down to the lake. I cussed under my breath, knowing I had to tell mom now, so that if David came back complaining about seven men and two women, at least two wearing only underwear, she'd be ready for it.

Suddenly panicking, I trotted into the kitchen. "Mom?"

"Yes?" She answered. She looked back down at the packet of deer meat that she was opening.

"Um… well… uh, what would you do if I ever told you that some fictional characters were real?" I fidgeted nervously, popping my fingers, and once none of them would pop anymore, shifting my stance back and forth, back and forth.

My mom wrinkled her brow, looking at me for another second as she asked, "You mean, the actors? They're real."

"No, no. Like, the actual characters. What would you do if I told you some fictional characters had actually come from where their story took place, to here, and were now real people?" I felt so stupid.

My mom laughed, setting down the knife she had picked up to start cutting the meat with. "Mariah," she questioned between chuckles, "what are you talking about?"

I took a deep breath, focusing my eyes on the cold meat, slimy and red as it dripped blood on the wax paper it sat upon. "Ok, well, you see, I went to Kroger this afternoon, to pick up some Coke since we were out and I really wanted some, but when I came back out to my car there were all these people around it. I was curious, cause, I mean, they were wearing armor and all, so I walked up to them and, well, you know that show that I like to watch online, Red vs Blue? Well, turns out, it's the characters from that show, and they're stuck here and they don't know how they got here, or how to get back, and well… I couldn't just leave them in public, so… I brought them here. And well... uh… yeah..." my voice trailed off, feeling even more foolish and unsure than before.

Mom was now fully facing me, and I only knew this by the way her feet were pointed. I didn't want to look up, and have her see how red my face was, or see if she was angry.

"Now, let me get this straight," she started, obviously still trying to make since of what I'd said, "You brought home 9 adult strangers? And you think they are the exact same characters from online, somehow now residing in our world?" I could tell she wanted to laugh. My mom was good to talk to in that way, she didn't laugh at you until you'd had time to explain a little.

I stumbled over the thought now, realizing how dumb and impossible it did sound, "Uh… yeah… I guess…" My fingers twitched in each others' grasp as I wringed my hands, waiting for her reply. But one didn't come, so I slowly moved my eyes to look up into my mom's own. She looked angry and confused, and I sighed. "I don't know. I guess you can tell them to leave."

"So they are really here? Let me meet them."

"What?" Taken aback I looked fully at her now. That had not been the answer I was expecting. I had figured she'd want them gone as soon as I mentioned it. She might still get rid of them for all I knew. She probably just wanted to make sure I hadn't gone crazy.

Realizing my confusion my mom explained, "You know I'm not happy that you brought strangers home. And it also doesn't seem possible that these people are _those_ characters. They might not seem like they are, but they are probably just people dressed up like them. I mean, seriously, Mariah, how could someone possibly come from a web show?"

Her tone was a bit reprimanding, but I could still tell she was still confused. I just shrugged. "I don't know, and I thought they were just in costume as well… but they seem pretty genuine to me." There was no way for me to really explain to her how I could tell they were real. I figured you just had to know the characters, and then you could sort of feel it. A joking thought crossed my mind; it would be much easier if a unicorn had come out of one of my favorite stories, or a talking dog. Strangely those seemed like they'd be easier to get someone to believe.

"Well, they certainly aren't staying here, real or not." She propped her hands up on her hips, and I knew she had made her decision.

"But mom, where are they going to go? I already told them they could stay!" I could still be stubborn though. "What are they going to do?"

"I don't know. They're adults, they'll figure it out."

Exasperated, I ran a hand over my face. "You don't understand! They won't figure it out! They're from the future or something like that so they don't know how anything works here!"

She turned back to the meat, showing me that she was not going to slide any in her opinion. As she picked up the knife to resume cutting up the meat she replied, "Oh, well. Mariah, you don't know what these people might do to you."

I stared up at the ceiling, so terribly annoyed by now, and mumbled, "I think they would have done something to me by now if they were going to." I still didn't understand how my mom could think that they would hurt me. She should have known that if I had sensed the slightest bit of danger from them, being a hypochondriac, I never would have approached them in the first place. It felt quite strange for me to find something less frightening than someone else for once. Thinking quickly, I said, "Well, what if we take them to a hotel? I'll pay for it. You can at least offer them that much, since they don't have anything with them." She wouldn't be able to resist this offer. "I mean, they don't even have any real clothes."

Her head snapped over to look at me, a bit disbelieving, but just as she opened her mouth to say something back there was the _whoosh_ of the back glass door opening, and David called into the house, "Sharon, there's a bunch of strange people down at the lake." He rounded the corner into the kitchen, and stood, looking back and forth between myself and my mom, realizing he'd interrupted something serious.

For a second my mom continued to stare at me, but then she looked up at my stepdad. "Yes, Mariah was just telling me about them. What'd they say to you?"

He shook his head, "Nothing much. I didn't talk to them long. It all seemed really weird. How do you know them," he asked, turning on me.

I shrugged, suddenly tired of this situation. "I met them at Kroger."

"And so you brought them back here?" his voice was angry, and I wished I was fussing with my mom again. He made me feel dumb, while she had just made me feel annoyed. I didn't answer; instead I just looked out the side door, which led down to the driveway. _I wonder what all of them are doing right now,_ I thought, picturing them all playing down at the lake again. Mental images of some of those guys standing down there in just their boxers made a giggle rise in my throat, but thankfully I was able to force it back down. It definitely would not have been good to laugh in the middle of this conversation.

They didn't press the answer, but instead my mom set down her cooking stuff again, wiped her hands on a towel, and put her hands on her hips once more. "Well, I guess we'll go meet them now."

I snapped my head up, slightly shocked. It seemed almost as if my mom was giving in, but then I told myself not to get my hopes up. She was probably just curious, and would tell me once she talked to them that they had to go… yes, she would definitely say that. It wasn't like the Spartans had good manners to impress her and David with. _Well, maybe I'm not being fair,_ I thought. _I'm sure Donut and Simmons could muster up some manners. _

David led the way out the glass door that I had recently cleaned, and down the stairs of the back porch. I shuffled after him and my mom, head kept low. The fact that they weren't saying a single word told me they still were still unhappy. My mom was also still very uneasy, I could tell, and if I could trust my eyes I had seen David pick up his pocketknife from the telephone table and stuffed it into his pocket before leaving the house. I bit my bottom lip and frowned. I was already thinking up what I could do with the nine Spartans. If my parents didn't want them here then the red house was out of the question. But where else could I put them? A hotel, but that could get expensive. Let them camp out somewhere? But where? I sighed, but it was only a short one this time, for my mom turned around and gave me an "I-don't-want-to-hear-it" look before I could draw it out. Not wanting to start the fussing again any earlier then was necessary I figured it'd be best to just stare at the ground and not make another noise. I watched the leaves crunch under my footsteps, and quicker than I had thought it took to walk to the lake I was stepping down the stairs leading to the sand once more.

Yet, we were stepping slowly down the stairs. I looked up, and mom was easing her way down them, as if all the soldiers would turn on her at any moment and she'd need to flee. David, however, marched down them, and for a second I wondered why I'd never realized before that he was like Sarge, in more ways than just his grey hair.

Naturally, the nine Spartans turned to see who was coming, and I smiled to see them again. It was a relief to count all nine of them still there. Caboose jumped up from where he was sitting in the shallow part of the water and started waving animatedly at me. I blushed at the sight of his boxers again, and waved back as Donut joined Caboose in his greeting. My mom gasped audibly at Caboose, and I figured she didn't feel his scantily clad body was very suitable to be around her 17 year-old daughter. Her eyes only grew wider as she realized that several of the guys now stood in only their undergarments.

As I, my mother, and my stepdad drew closer to the dock, on and around which most of the Spartans had gathered, I could make out their faces as they fell into more confused looks. Simmons had stood up, to come say something to me I supposed, but was now stopped on the dock walkway. Even Caboose, Donut, and Sister, who had been chatting away at Tucker, became quiet at everyone else's serious and confused expressions.

David stopped at the end of the dock's walkway, not stepping onto it but instead standing in the sand at the foot of it. Mom and I stopped as well, mom standing a little behind and beside David, and I peered at the others from around them. For a moment no one said a word, and I had the worst urge to laugh once more. I think Grif did to. That or he wanted to cuss at someone.

"Well," David said, graciously breaking the silence, "What's going on here?"

His words only added to the confusion. The Spartans had all figured I would tell my parents what happened, and now I was confused as well because I _had_ told them. Or, I'd told my mom at least, but she didn't seem to know what was going on any more than David.

Simmons opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again without saying anything. Sarge just cocked an eyebrow at David, and Donut and Caboose exchanged worried looks.

"Um…" Church muttered.

Sister tried to start babbling, but Church cut her off. I had to admit, that though he wasn't my favorite from the series, he sure did seem to be the most sensible. And that was definitely necessary in this situation.

"Well, um… your… daughter…" he paused at the word, and I could hear the slight question in his voice. I briefly hoped that it was a question as to make sure these were my parents, and not towards my gender, though that wouldn't have surprised me. Peeking around from behind my mom I nodded at him. "She brought us here," he said, exchanging a glance with me as he said it. Seemingly encouraged, he continued. "We were teleported here, you see, and she found us."

"Sort of," Tucker cut in. Spotting him standing nearby in the sand, I gave him a pleading look to stop talking, because I knew he'd end up saying something perverted. He looked at me questioningly in return, but Church thankfully started again before anything bad was said.

"And now, we don't know how to get back to our…. time… or place… or whatever the hell it is… but yeah, she agreed to help us out till then."

The group lapsed back into silence after his short explanation. Simmons sat back down in the boat with Sarge, and Caboose hopped up on the dock and sat down next to Church on the walkway, accidently getting him wet. Church grimaced and scooted over, but then everyone was once more still and staring at me and my parents expectantly.

I rubbed the back of my head, mussing up my hair, as if trying to think of something to say, though I knew it was my parents' turn to speak. On cue, David turned to look at me, as did my mom, as if for the time being she could only do what he did. "So?" he said. When I just stared back at him my mom piped up, as if answering for David. "I guess you told them to say all these things, since they are exactly what you told me?"

"No," I grumbled. That just means it's true." I glared back, though it wasn't completely intentional, but my mom caught it anyway. And obviously my tone wasn't that nice either.

"Don't you get sassy with us, young lady," she scolded.

I held back an eye roll that I was dying to do, but instead I just stood there, feeling my face starting to burn. I hated having all the soldiers seeing me being fussed at. I even heard a small "ooh" but I couldn't exactly pinpoint who it came from, so I decided to ignore it. "Look, I can prove it, just give me a chance," I said, my voice switching to a plea.

Everybody's eyebrows seemed to crease even more in unison. "What is there to prove? That we're real? Here, you can touch me and see for yourself!" Tucker suddenly exclaimed, obviously becoming aggravated that there was a problem. He threw up his hands and started walking towards us, but I quickly held out my hand for him to stop. Thankfully he did, and I looked back up at my mom. I opened my mouth.

"Um, yeah, I'm lost. What _are_ we proving?" Sister asked from up on the dock.

I wanted to cry out in exasperation. Mom and David were giving me "We told you so" looks, and the soldiers suddenly felt there was nothing wrong with this situation. I hadn't told them where they were from… or well, where they were seemingly from to us. That they came from a show made from an Xbox game. To them… they were just from another planet, and that'd be fine, if mom and David thought that too and it was possible. Instead, I'd told mom they were from the show, and now… I was in a mess. "Look. Can't they just stay somewhere for the night, and you can give me time to prove it, "I directed the words to my parents. "And then if you still don't believe me, you can send them away."

"What? But I-" Caboose started to exclaim, but Church stopped him. The cobalt soldier didn't know any more than the others did about where they were from, but he could tell that if they wanted it somewhat easy here on Earth then they needed to make a good impression and help me with my case.

I tried to look as hopeful as possible, wondering if maybe a sad, puppy-dog face would be necessary. My mom looked down at me, then at the men and women standing and sitting around, then at David.

"I don't believe it," he stated shortly.

Mom sighed. I could suddenly tell she sort of wanted to believe me, and understand what I was getting at, but she also wanted to stick with her husband's words. "Well, we could at least get them somewhere for the night, I suppose."

A smile broke across my face, and a cheer even was thrown up by Donut and Sister, though they had no idea what was happening. My mom looked at me with a worried look, but after a second it became sterner. "If you can't prove it by tomorrow afternoon, they're gone. And you're paying for the hotel rooms."

I laughed nervously. I was willing to do that, I had some money in the bank… but I'd been saving that, and a couple hotel rooms would eat up more of that money than I'd like. "Well…. They could just stay in the little red house…"

"I don't think so. It doesn't even belong to us."

I sighed. So much for that. "Alright, fine." I stuffed my hands in my pockets. It was a bittersweet moment. The soldiers would be under my handling for the night, yet if I couldn't convince mom and David that they were fictional characters made real, and not creepy, insane cosplayers by tomorrow then they were gone. And my money was gone either way. At least it was for a good cause, right? "Well, mom, David, meet the guys. And girls." I added quickly when I saw Tex open her mouth to correct me.

With their short attention spans, the Spartans had suddenly forgotten the frustrating situation that had just been at hand moments before, and were instead leaping up to greet my parents. True, not all of them leapt up. Grif waved from his seat, though after a smack on the back of his head and some mumbled orders from Sarge he stood and walked lazily over to say hey. Tucker kind of hung back, bored with the situation, and talked with Tex, who wasn't one for greetings. I watched as my mom shook Simmon's hand, staring down at the mechanical arm that had been offered to her. Simmons was uncomfortable and hurriedly moved out of the way so that Sister could excitedly shake hands with my parents.

The whole time I watched my parents' reactions. David just seemed to grow more and more confused with each hand he shook or greeting he returned. When Sarge stopped to compliment him on his "water craft" he happily lapsed into a conversation, and I wondered if maybe it wouldn't be much of my responsibility to convince them after all. Mom also seemed happy, because everyone seemed pretty thankful for her decision and was happy to show her some manners. She became a bit worried when Tucker started cussing at Caboose, but once she was occupied with greeting Church I snuck over to the dark skinned man and explained to him that if he could not cuss around my mom that'd be great. I knew it'd be hard for Tucker to not cuss, but he reluctantly obliged.

David and Sarge's conversation continued, and before long both of the older men were standing inside the boat, discussing different aspects of it. The excitement of the evening had calmed down, and all the guys were messing around once more, or just talking, or in Grif's case sleeping in a chair. My mom sat in the other chair, content to just watch and make sure nothing bad happened until the boat conversation was finished and we could all leave. I stood in the shallows, engaged in the renewed game of splashing, now joined by Sister.

With his size, it was easy for Caboose to make the biggest waves and splashes, and it wasn't long before I was soaked from head to toe. I laughed after a particularly large wave was sent my way and crashed over me. Rubbing water out of my eyes, I started splashing around blindly. I heard a playful squeal from Sister, and Scout barked from the shore line.

"Hey, Yori," church called from where he still sat on the dock's walkway.

"Yeah?" I answered, but was quickly reprimanded for my inattentiveness by being splashed by Donut. "Hang on a second," I said, laughing and excusing myself from the game, and walked over to stand in the water in front of Church, with whom Tex, and Tucker now sat as well.

"So, what was it you and your parents were talking about? What is it you have to prove to them?" He looked at me inquisitively.

"Do they not believe that we teleported here or something?" Tucker asked as well.

I rubbed some mud from the lake water off my arm, thinking. "Well, yeah, I guess you could say that. But it's more than that." I didn't know how to put it.

"What more could there be? We teleported here from where we were. End of story," Tex stated, brushing her red bangs out of her face, though they quickly fell back across her forehead.

"It's… um… it's complicated. I don't know if you guys would understand it either, really."

Tucker squinted, thinking. "If it's so hard for everyone to understand except you… then isn't that a pretty good sign that maybe you're the one with the wrong idea?"

I sighed and pushed myself up to sit on the dock next to Tucker. I attempted to wipe some water off my face, but my hands were still wet, and with nowhere to wipe them it was impossible to dry off anything. "Could you clean these?" I mumbled, taking off my glasses and handing them to Tucker. He wiped them off and handed them back, still awaiting my answer. I took them, and once I had them back on I sighed again. Here goes. "Well, you see, you guys, in this world, aren't technically real."

"What the hell do you mean, we aren't real?" Tucker asked, obviously offended by the suggestion. He grabbed my wet hand and squeezed it until I winced and yanked it away. "See!"

"Yes, yes, I know you're real," I grumbled, rubbing my hand. "It's just….. you aren't supposed to be."

"What?" came unison responses from the three.

"Just bear with me, for a moment," I said, not wanting to be interrupted 20 more times before I had finally explained the situation. Church nodded, and I took the silence from the other two as a go-ahead. "You see, we have this game here, an Xbox game (I knew they had no idea what an Xbox was but I didn't bother to stop and explain that as well)… called Halo. There's a few versions, Halo one through three, but that not the point. And in the game, there are people… Spartans… like you. Exactly like yourselves. Master Chief, you know?" I could tell they all suddenly wanted to speak up, and had questions, but I kept talking. "Well, there are some guys, in the state - in the United states, here on Earth - called Texas." I nodded at Tex. "They used Halo to make movies. Or, shows, I guess it would be. And in the shows, which eventually became a series, with several seasons, were two sides, red," I nodded towards the sleeping Grif, "and blues." I nodded towards Tucker and Church. "It was you guys. They created your names, and they used their voices as yours, and they created your lives - fighting O'Malley, and you being a ghost, everything - and… people like me… we watch the videos on the computer. People all over the world know of you guys, but, only as fictional characters on a web series. Not as actual, physical," I held up my hand, in reference to Tucker's previous move of squeezing my hand, "people." I took a deep breath. "And that's why my parents don't believe me."

The three Spartans sat, staring at me, before Tucker said, "I don't think _I_ believe you." I laughed tiredly, but didn't bother with trying to explain it more. Instead, I looked back out to watch how the splashing game was going. Sister and Donut had managed to knock down Caboose and were tickling him, the water momentarily forgotten. I chuckled, shaking my head before looking back up at Church.

"So… we're just…. characters?" he asked.

I nodded.

He shrugged, and I sat up a little straighter, somewhat shocked. He noticed my expression and explained, "I'm already a fucking ghost, or whatever. Being fictional isn't much of a shock compared to that."

Tex nodded in agreement, "True. I'm not too surprised either."

"What the hell, you guys?" Tucker exclaimed, obviously more affected than the others. "She's saying we aren't even _real_! I mean," he stumbled over his words, but couldn't think of anything better than, "It's just not possible!"

I shrugged now. "I don't know how it happened."

"But…" Tucker searched mine and church's face, as if we held an explanation.

I gave Tucker a crooked grin and just shrugged again. "I think I'll leave it to you guys to explain it to the others though. I don't feel like saying it again. Will you tell them later, Church?"

"Yeah, whatever."

I had just muttered a thanks when a large gasp, followed by an, "OH MY GOD!" erupted from further up the dock. I twisted my head to the side, as did everyone else. Even the splashing game, and the boat talk stopped as everyone looked towards Grif, who had made the outburst.

"What in Sam Hill is your problem, son?" Sarge yelled, annoyed that his first intelligent and interesting conversation in a long time had been interrupted.

Grif had obviously woken up, and was now sitting on the very edge of his seat, arms hanging by his sides. "Look," he said, slowly pointing upwards to where he had been looking.

All of the other eleven heads slowly turned with his finger, and when the rest stopped, an audible gasp was heard from everyone, except myself and my parents. We had no idea what we were looking at. I twisted my head, squinted, and even leaned over to try and better follow Tucker's line of sight, but I finally gave up. "What is it?" I asked, worried.

After a few more moments of silence someone, it was Simmons, finally uttered, "The sun…. it…. it's setting!"

I couldn't help myself, and ended up coughing out a laugh. Looking down from the sky, I turned to watch all their faces. They all looked so surprised, amazed, and even a little bit of fright showed on some of the faces. Caboose was one of the frightened ones. He came running over to where I sat, and grabbed my knee in shaking hands. "Mariah, your sun is falling! It's going to land on the ground and burn us all up!" His wide, blue eyes never left the sun's path as he said this, and then he stood quietly in front of me.

Before comforting him, I looked at Church. "The suns never set in Blood Gulch?"

He looked at me for a moment, before looking back at the sun. "No. When one goes down the other would already be on its way up, so you could rarely tell the difference. Every now and then, they'd cross and it'd make a few seconds of dimmed light…. But none of us have seen an actual sunset in years."

The faces of the others told me this was true, and when I looked at mom and David they both seemed as surprised as I was at the others' confusion. I smiled, knowing this was only a step up for proving that these guys were who they said they were. Patting Caboose's hand (not without noticing how big it was compared to my own) I said, "Don't worry. This happens every day here. The sun is just setting for the night."

"It really happens _every day_?" Donut asked, wandering over to us.

"Yeah. The sun goes down in the evening, and comes back up in the morning."

Donut scoffed. "What? But, it's getting darker. So, it's going to be completely dark until morning?"

At this, Caboose's eyes grew wider, and he looked at me as if my answer was the answer to keeping him alive. "Sort of," I nodded. "The moon comes up while the sun is down, so there's some light. You'll see."

"I want to go inside." Caboose whined, still not at ease with the concept.

"Yeah, it is getting a bit chilly," Tucker said, folding his arms. I figured they were also use to a very constant temperature, so even though the slight autumn chill didn't bother me, it must have been quite noticeable to the Spartans. Being mostly naked didn't help them either.

The others started agreeing, and some, like Caboose and Donut, I could tell only wanted to get inside to be away from the strange sight of the setting sun. When Grif agreed I was surprised to find him still looking at the sun, and guessed that even though he probably remembered sunsets, he was uneasy at such a difference from what he was used to as well. I agreed, and looked at mom and David for approval to head up to the house. Mom looked back at me, then back at David. She sighed, "I guess they can come in for a bit." By these words I knew she was already starting to believe me. I muttered a small, "yes" under my breath, and had to tell Tex it was nothing when she asked what I'd said. I stood up and brushed myself off, still quite damp from playing in the water, and now uncomfortable in the wet cargo shorts and t-shirt. I pulled the shirt off of where it was clinging to my stomach, and waited for either of my parents to start up to the house. The nine Spartans slowly moved about, picking up discarded pieces of under armor, waiting to follow me. Seeing that it depended on her or David to move, mom started walking down the dock towards the shore, David following after her, and Sarge back at his side and once more talking about machines. I then followed, with Caboose and Donut hurrying along at my sides, and everyone else trailing behind.

Without much talking, the strange line of people made their way up the back porch step, and in through the sliding glass door at the back. We squeezed into the living room, which was normally an easily comfortable size, now seemed quite packed with all twelve of us standing in it. For a moment we stood around awkwardly. Since we were all suddenly so close even Sarge had stopped talking, not knowing exactly what to do. I rubbed the back of my neck, not knowing what to say, but wanting to break the new silence.

"So?" I turned to mom, hoping she had a plan, since I really couldn't do anything else without her say in the matter.

My mother stared back at me for a moment, our eyes just meeting. She didn't say anything, and even though I hated direct eye contact I made sure to hold her gaze. If I was going to win this battle I couldn't back down. I heard some noise around me, and guessed that some of the Spartans were taking seats around the living room, either on the couch or in the two chairs.

"Well…" she started. I raised my eyebrows expectantly. "Let's get y'all fed first. I'm sure you must be starving." She looked around at all the soldiers, smiling lightly. I looked around the room as she asked, "What would y'all like for me to fix?"

Murmurs of indecision were exchanged around the room, some also accompanied with shrugs. She looked at me and I shrugged as well. She gave an exasperated sigh and turned to walk into the kitchen saying, "I'll just see what we have enough of, then."

David followed her out of the room and I turned to all the Spartans. Sarge still stood, arms crossed, with Simmons standing awkwardly by his side. Caboose was standing in the space behind the couch, and Donut had sat down on the floor near Sarge's feet. The other five had chosen a spot on the furniture, and after a minute of scanning the room, I plopped down onto the floor in front of them. Crossing my legs I absently patted Scout on the head as he ran over to sit in my lap. "Well…" I started, not sure what to do now until the food was ready."

"Is that a TV?" Grif asked, looking past me from where he was lounging in one of the chairs.

I looked behind me, though I knew the TV was there. "Yeah, why?"

"Man, that thing is so fucking old," Tucker said, in what I think was an impressed tone. Either that or a mocking one. I glanced briefly to the kitchen, wondering if mom had heard. She hated cussing, even considering the words "crap" and "suck" to be bad words, and I knew she definitely wouldn't be impressed by their language. They had managed to keep the cussing to a minimum when they were first meeting my parents down at the dock, but I should have known that would last for only so long. Hearing the noises of cooking utensils being moved around I guessed she hadn't heard, or she'd chosen to ignore it for now.

"Well, it is 2008," I said, shrugging. "I'm sure there have been a lot of technological advances between now and the time you guys come from."

Simmons, who had been studying the computer in the corner, looked over his shoulder at me. "You're telling me. This computer here is ancient. I bet it's slow as hell."

Grif looked at his team mate from his chair, grinning. "Yeah, Simmons, I bet your ass is more technologically advanced than that thing."

A few of the others and I chuckled at this, and the conversation seemed to get a lot lighter from the moment. We talked from then all through supper, which we just sat around the living room and ate. Most of it was them being impressed by how hard our living must be with so little of the technology they have. I mostly just sat and shook my head at them, amused by the conversation, and wondering how they'd get on the next few days.

Once I was sure they were done eating I went around and collected all their plates and forks, then carried them into the kitchen where mom and David had chosen to eat. I threw away all the plates and dropped the forks into the sink, then went and sat down at the table across from mom.

"So…" I hesitated, letting the word trail off.

Mom and David knew what I was there for though. "We'll take them to the hotel soon, yes," David said in his thick southern drawl. I frowned, and looked down at the placemat in front of me.

"But why can't they sleep in Mrs. Garrison's little red house?" I asked. "We have the key to get in, and no one ever uses it anymore anyway."

"Yes, but I don't want them around here until I'm sure they're safe," said mom. I wanted to roll my eyes again but knew that'd be a bad idea. Once mom saw I wasn't going to say anything to this, nor was I going to leave, she said, "We already said that we are taking them to a hotel. You were the one who suggested it anyway."

"And you've got the money," David piped up.

I looked back and forth between them. That had just been one of those spur of the moment suggestions, because I really didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars for them to live in a hotel until they found their way back home, but as my parents looked at me I knew it was that or nothing. But that wouldn't stop me from begging one last time, "Please. Why not the red house? Or the basement? I mean, we have Taylor's room that they can use, and the rest can sleep down stairs. Or outside. I'm sure they wouldn't mind that at all unless it rains."

I was greeted by 'I don't think so' looks by both adults, and I groaned, putting my chin in my hands. There goes all my savings.

"Maybe once we get to know them better." I looked up, hope rising in my mind. "But not until we are certain that they aren't just some creepers." This was my mom's definite decision, so I knew there was no use pleading with them any longer. I would just have to make sure I made her (and still myself, sort of) believe me that they were legitimate before all my money was gone and they had to live on the streets. Pushing back the chair I stood, and walked out of the kitchen.

The group had managed to turn the TV on, and they were all seemed enthralled with the NBC news. "Man this is the stupidest thing ever!" Tex was remarking to Sister as I walked in. "All they seem to have to talk about it actors and singers. Doesn't anything interesting happen in this country?"

I laughed at how true the statement was, but called for their attention. They all turned to look at me, and I looked down at my feet wondering if I'd ever get used to having nine time-traveling soldiers all looking at me. "Alright, you guys. We're going to take you to a hotel for a night, or maybe a few nights. Y'all can sleep there and stuff, and I guess I'll come meet up with you in the morning… maybe," I added, wondering if mom would let me go meet them.

_I'll worry about that then_, I told myself. For the time being I started gathering together outfits from mom and David's closets (with their permission of course) that the Spartan might be able to wear. I knew that even some of David's clothes may be a little small on the extra tall Simmons and Caboose, but it would do for now. From David's suggestion, we carried their armor down into the basement, and left it there, where mom could be safe that it wasn't being used to beat someone up or anything of that matter. Then, we loaded the clothes into a couple small suitcases, piled them into the back of my car and divided everyone between the three available vehicles. Sarge and Simmons would ride with David, and everyone else would cram into mom's Explorer except for me and Sister. Since she was obviously the least dangerous in mom's mind, I was stuck driving her.

I pulled out of the driveway behind David, being told to drive between him and mom so that they could still keep an eye out for me, and we headed towards town to find a hotel with a few vacant rooms. As we drove along I tuned out Sister's idle chattering, lost in my own thoughts about how I could definitely prove the Spartans legitimacy.


End file.
